Internal-combustion engine



Jan. 9, 1945.- W B. GQQDMAN 2,366,852

INTERNAL- COMBUS TION ENGINE Jan. 9. 1945.`

W. B. GOODMAN.

lNTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE i5; Sheets-Sheen:

Filed Dec. 27, 1941 INVENTOR WILLARD B. GOODMAN BY ma ATTDRNEY Jan. 9,'1 1945. i

w. B. GopMAN 2,366,852w INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed pecQzv. 41941 s sheets-sheet s lNvENToR VILLARD B. GOODMAN ATTURNEY Jan. 9, 1945. w. B. GOODMAN INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Dc. 27, 1941 e sheets-sheet 4 INVENTOR wlLLA RD B. GOODMAN AT Tn-RNEY Jan. 9, 1945.

w. B. GOQDMAN INTERNAL-COMBSTON ENGINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 27, 1941 l lNvEN-ron WILLARD B. GOODMAN BY .ATThn RNEY l Y Jan. 9, 1945. w.- B. GOODMAN 2,366,852

INTERNAL- COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Dec. 27, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 6 I lNvr-:NTo

WILLARD B. GOODMAN V BY f f /O Q ff AI'TCIRNEYD Patented Jan. 9, 1945 INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE Willard B. Goodman, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Wright Aeronautical Corporation, a corporation of New York Application December 427, 1941, Serial No..42;1,563

V r(ci. 12s- 55) 7 Claims.

This invention relates to engines and is concerned with multiple cylinder engines particularly adapted for aircraft use. l

A particular object of the invention is Lto providean engine in which a large plurality of engine cylinders are used, several groups of said cylinders each cooperating with separate crankshaft units whichare drivably connected to a power output shaft through torsionally resilient shafting means. By this system, the crankshaft for each group of cylinders transmits the torque only from that group of cylinders and is not called .upon to assume power loading from the other crankshaft units of the engine.

A further object of the invention is to provide 'vide an engine having' av plurality of tandem crankshafts in coaxial relation, the adjacent ends of conscutive crankshafts being piloted one with` in the other for relative rotational movement; 1

An associated object is to provide means exT;

prises a plurality -of radial' cylinder engine units in tandem relation. For instance, each engine unitis a 14-cylinder assembly with its own crankshaft and with the cylinders arranged in two banks of seven cylinders each. When three such units are assembled in end-to-end relation the upon it by the cylinders associated directly with it. Such a shaft, though in tandem arrangement terior of the crankshafts for securing them in associated with the aboveobjectives, which im-` provements will become apparent in reading the annexed detailed description in connection with the drawings, in` which:

Fig.. 1 is va longitudinal section through the front part of an engine;

Fig. 2 is alongitudinal `section throughs. central part of the engine: i

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through a rear- Vward part of the engine;

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the engine;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section through the engine taken on a plane through a. forward or rearward cylinder bank;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged longitudinal through a portion of Fig. 2;.and

ection Fig '7 is an enlarged longitudinal section through a portion of Fig. 1.

.In general. the engine of the invention comcrankshaft I5.

with other similar shafts, does not have: to trans-I mit the power produced by any of the other shafts. Eachcrankshaft is provided with a large gear and around the engine,.between adjacent Y rows of cylinders, a. high speed'layshaft is borne, these several layshafts having pinions engaged with the large gears of the several crankshafts. The forward ends of the several layshafts project from one end of the cylinder assembly of the,

engine and serve to drive an output shaft and certain engine accessories.' The other ends of the layshafts are either individually or jointly connected with other engine accessories.

Forv details, reference may first be made to Fig. 2 in which I0 and II indicate two cylinders of one of the seven radial rows of the central engine unit, these cylinders having pistons I2 and connecting rods I3 engaging journals I4 of a 2-throw The shaft I5 is journaled in a central bearing diaphragm I6 and atits front end the shaft is journaled at Il in a bearing diaphragm I8, said diaphragms comprising integral parts of crankcase sections I9 and 20. respectively bolted together along the diametral plane of each bank of cylinders as at 22. To the crankcheek at the rear of the crankshaft I5, a drive gear 23 is bolted as at 24, this gear being meshed with a pinion 25 on a jointed layshaft 26 supported in bearings 21 and 28 in the crankcase bearing diaphragms. Airear engine unit shown in Fig. 2 to the right of the gear 23 forms anintegral structure with the first mentionedengineunit` and includes cylinders 28 and 29 each-having pistons and connecting rods engaging a'crankshaft 30 which,like the crankshaft'l, is carried l rows.

journal of the crankshaft 30 for free oscillation relative thereto.

whose central and lforward journals are carried in crankcase bearing diaphragms and whose rear journal is piloted as at 36- in the forward journal of the crankshaft |5 for free oscillation relativethereto. The rear crankcheek of the crankshaft 35 carries a gear 23 engagedwith pinions 25 on layshaft sections 26. Similarly, as shown in Fig. 3, the rear cheek of the rear crankshaft 30 carries a gear 33 engaging pinions 25 on portions of the jointed layshafts 26. As shown in Fig. 5, the several layshaft assemblies 26, equal in number to the number of cylinders in each bank, are disposed between said cylinders near their lower ends. The pistons of the othercylinders in each bank, as shown in Fig. 5, carry connecting rods 38 articulated to the connecting rods i3 which are master connecting rods.

Fig. 6 shows the details .of construction and arrangement of the pilot joint 36 between ltwo adjacent crankshafts such as .and 35 along with the driving connection from the crankshaft 35 toone of the layshafts 26.

For unity of construction, each longitudinal row of cylinders preferably is cast en-bloc, although the cylinders could readily be made in pairs or as single units. Along the top o'feach row a camshaft 40 is disposed, said camshaft beingv borne in bearings 4| and having cam lobes operating upon rocker arms 42 acting upon intake and exhaust valves d3 and d4 in the several cylinder heads, in a more or less conventional manner. ders of each row through an intake manifold d5 lying in the V dened between adjacent cylinder Products of combustion from theseveral cylinders of-'each row are delivered from the exhaust ports to longitudinally extending manifolds 46 also disposed in 4the V between rows of cylinders but lying outwardlyfrom the intake manifolds 115. Y,

Referring to Figs. 1 and 1, I show the gear system by which engine power is taken from the layshafts 26 to a propeller shaft 48. Each layshaft 26, forward of its bearing 49 in the front bearing diaphragm ofthe forward engine unit, carriesv a pinion 50 meshedwith .a central gear 5| piloted through bushings 52 toward the rear end of the propeller shaft 48. The extreme rear end of the shaft 48 comprises 'a journal 53 piloted in the front journal of the crankshaft 35. The gear 5 I receiving power from the several layshafts 26,`

transmits it through a torque meter 54 (the details of which are unimportant to the present disclosure) to a gear 55 meshed with pinions 56 on layshafts 51 journaledin bearings 58'carriedby a nose section 59 of the crankcase. Said shafts 51 also carry pinions 6|tmeshed with a ring gear 62 secured to the propeller shaft 46 through a splined connection 64. The forward portion of the propeller shaft 48 is carried in a plain radial` bearing 66 and a ball thrust bearing 61 in the crankcase nose section 59.

Forward of the drive pinion so of each iaysnaft 26 .is a pinionA I1|) meshed-'with an idler gear 1|, meshed consecutively with an idler gear 12, an

idler gear 13, and a camshaft drive gear 14 driva-bly secured to the front end of the-camshaft 40. There lis an idler gear train 1|, 12, V13 for each camshaft and itsgear Hand-these gears Fuel is supplied to the several cylin` are carried on journals secured to'a bearing plate 15 rigid with the engine crankcase and the crankcase nose section 59. One or more of-the idler gears may be used to drive auxiliary equipment of the engine. For instance, in Fig. 1 the idler gear 13 is coupled to a shaft 11 for the purpose of driving a magneto indicated at 18. Also, theand is driven through a gear 86 from the propeller shaft gear 84. Said oil pump unit, though not important in detailas regards the present 4 invention, includes a pressure pump unit in tandem with a scavenging pump unit, the former delivering oil from anexternal oil reservoir to the engine, and the latter withdrawing surplus oil from the front end-of the engine and discharging it to the separate oil reservoir. Scavenge oil for the scavenging end of the oil pump unit r`passes through a duct 88.

Referring to Fig. 3, I show thel engine rear section as including a supercharger impeller receiving air or gas from an air intake duct 9| and delivering it to a diffusion chamber 92 connecting directly with the several intake manifolds 45. The impeller 90 is carried on a sleeve shaft 93 piloted on a central shaft 94 having a splined connection 96 with the rear end 0f the rear crankshaft 30, 'said shaft 94 at its, rear end being journaled in a bearing 91 in the rear housing of the engine. The supercharger impeller shaft 93 is driven from one or more ofthe layshafts 26 through a gear train comprising a layshaft gear 98, an idlerA gear 99, and an impeller shaft gear The rear end of the extension shaft 94 carries a gear |02 which serves to. drive one or more engine auxiliaries mounted upon the rear crankcase section. Such an auxiliary comprises, for u instance, a rear oil pump assembly |04 having a drive gear' |05. The latter gear is meshed with an intermediate shaft |01 4meshed with the gear |02. A plurality of engine auxiliaries may be disposed around the crankcase rear section and drive for them may be taken from a large gear |08 piloted on a bearing .|09 coaxial. with th engine crankshafts and driven from one or more countershafts |06. The

arrangement of this gearing may, of course, be

altered as desired to secure appropriate speeds for. the auxiliary driven apparatus.

The drawings show thev engine cylinders as being liquid-cooled, but the details of the cooling system and of the lubricating systemcemprise! While I have described my invention in detail inuits present preferred embodiment, it,will be |06 which carries a gear obvious to those skilled in the art, after understanding my invention, that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. I aim in the appended claims to cover all such modifications and changes.

I claim as my invention: V

1. In a power plant, .a plurality of tandem arranged engine units each having a crankshaft, the crankshafts being coaxial, the adjacent ends of said crankshafts being piloted one within the other and capable of relative rotation, a` gear on each crankshaft, a layshaft parallel to the several crankshafts having pinions thereon engaged by the crankshaft gears, and an output shaft driven by said layshaft.

2. In an engine, an elongated casing'having a plurality of bearing diaphragms thereacross, a rst crankshaft borne at its one end in the first diaphragm and at its other end in a second diaphragm, a second crankshaft borne at its one power take-off from said layshafts.

3. In an internal combustion engine, a plurality of in-line rows of radially extending engine cylinders, said cylinder rows being circumferentially spaced about Va common axis, crank shaft means for said cylinders comprising a plurality of serially and co-axially disposed individual crankshafts, a plurality of layshafts corresponding in number to the number of cylinder rows and circumferentiallyspaced about said crank shaft means, each of said layshafts being disposed between a pair of adjacent cylinder rows, gear connections between each of said crankshafts and layshafts, and cam means driven by each layvgear engaged with each crankshaft gear, and a shaft, each of said cam means respectively servcrankshaft means, each of said layshafts being disposed between a pair of adjacent cylinder rows, gear connections for transmitting power from each of said crankshafts to each of said layshafts, each of said gear connections providing a stepup drive from said crankshafts to said layshafts, and an output shaft drivably connected to said layshafts. f

5. In an internal combustion engine, the combination recited in claim 4 and in which said gear connections each provide a permanent connection between said crankshafts and layshafts.

6. In an internal combustion engine, aplurality of inline rows of radially extending engine cylinders, said cylinder rows being circumferentially spaced about a common axis, crankshaft means for said cylinders comprising a plurality of i serially and co-axially disposed individual crankshafts, a plurality of layshafts corresponding in number to the number of cylinder rows and circumferentially spaced about said crankshaft means, each of said layshafts being disposed between a pair of adjacent cylinder rows, gear coniaries driven by said layshafts. l

-7. In'an internal combustion engine, a crank- `case of tubular cross-section, a plurality of inline rows of engine cylinders mounted on said crankcase and extending radially outward therefrom, said cylinder rows being circumferentially spaced about a common axis, crankshaft means for said cylinders, said crankshaft means being disposed within said crankcase and comprising a plurality of serially and co-axially disposed individual crank shafts, a layshaft disposed within said crankcase between the bases of a pair of adjacent cylinder rows, gear connections for 'transmitting power from each of said crankshafts to said layshaft, each of said gear connections providing astep-up drivefrom said crankshafts to nected to said layshaft.

n. GOODMAN. i 

